Formicinae

The Formicinae are a subfamily within the Formicidae containing ants of moderate evolutionary development.

Not to be confused with the extinct Formicidae subfamily Formiciinae.

Formicinae
Temporal range:
Camponotus fellah
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Formicidae
Subfamily: Formicinae
Lepeletier, 1836
Type genus
Formica
Linnaeus, 1758
Diversity
51 extant genera in 12 tribes
Carpenter ant (Camponotus sp.)

Formicines retain some primitive features, such as the presence of cocoons around pupae, the presence of ocelli in workers, and little tendency toward reduction of palp or antennal segmentation in most species, except subterranean groups. Extreme modification of mandibles is rare, except in the genera Myrmoteras and Polyergus. However, some members show considerable evolutionary advancement in behaviors such as slave-making and symbiosis with root-feeding hemipterans. Finally, all formicines have very reduced stings and enlarged venom reservoirs, with the venom gland, specialized (uniquely among ants) for the production of formic acid.

All members of the Formicinae "have a one-segmented petiole in the form of a vertical scale".[2]

Identification

Formicine ants have a single node-like or scale-like petiole (postpetiole entirely lacking) and the apex of the abdomen has a circular or U-shaped opening (the acidopore), usually fringed with hairs. A functional sting is absent, and defense is provided by the ejection of formic acid through the acidopore. If the acidopore is concealed by the pygidium and difficult to discern, then the antennal sockets are located well behind the posterior margin of the clypeus (cf. Dolichoderinae). In most formicines, the eyes are well developed (ocelli may also be present), the antennal insertions are not concealed by the frontal carinae, and the promesonotal suture is present and flexible.[3]

Tribes and genera

The tribal structure of the Formicinae is not completely understood. This list follows the scheme at AntCat,[4] but other schemes and names are used.

References
  1. Grimaldi, D.; Agosti, D. (2000). "A formicine in New Jersey Cretaceous amber (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) and early evolution of the ants". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 97 (25): 13678–13683. Bibcode:2000PNAS...9713678G. doi:10.1073/pnas.240452097. PMC 17635. PMID 11078527.
  2. Klotz, John H. (2008). "Formicinae". Urban ants of North America and Europe: identification, biology, and management. Cornell University Press. ISBN 978-0-8014-7473-6.
  3. "Subfamily: Formicinae". antweb.org. AntWeb. Retrieved 21 September 2013.
  4. Bolton, B. (2013), "An online catalog of the ants of the world.", AntCat, retrieved 17 October 2023
  5. Ward, Philip S.; Blaimer, Bonnie B.; Fisher, Brian L. (2016). "A revised phylogenetic classification of the ant subfamily Formicinae(Hymenoptera: Formicidae), with resurrection of the genera Colobopsis and Dinomyrmex". Zootaxa. Magnolia Press. 4072 (3): 343–57. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.4072.3.4. PMID 27395929.
  6. Christopher M. Wilson; Autumn Smith-Herron (2016). "Morphology of the male genitalia of Brachymyrmex and their implications in the Formicinae phylogeny". Journal of Hymenoptera Research. Pensoft Publishers. 50: 81–95. doi:10.3897/JHR.50.8697. ISSN 1070-9428.
  7. "AntWeb". California Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 2018-03-10.
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